Quotes from Steve Buscemi

I've never had a grand plan. I've only just tried to keep open to many different possibilities, have fun and work with people who are passionate about what they do.

I talked with Quentin about where the character came from, and he told me Kansas City. I don't know how somebody talks from Kansas City, so I made him from New York.

I don't tend to think of the characters i play as losers. I like the struggles that people have, people who are feeling like they don't fit into society, because I still sort of feel that way.

Whenever you do something that is in a continuous take, and something that we're not used to doing, because it was all in the details of if you don't make one move seem natural, it can give away all of it.

With Animal Factory you'd think that because it's mostly interiors, you could shoot it anywhere. So we shot this in Philadelphia, and we had the cooperation of the prison system.

I've certainly worked with really great directors who haven't acted.

Directing television is really hard - it's so fast. You shoot an hour show in seven days.

I like telling stories about people with problems. I can't really put it much simpler than that.

I don't tend to think of these characters as losers. I like the struggles that people have, people who are feeling like they don't fit into society, because I still sort of feel that way.

I'm terrible at story and structure, but I'm not so bad at writing dialogue.

My real training as an actor was when I started doing theatre.

I feel my life has more meaning because I am responsible for another life, although I don't have control over what Lucian - my son - is going to do. He's definitely going to carve his own way.

It doesn't matter to me what the genre is.

When I get cast, I always flip to the end of the script to see if my character gets beaten up or killed.

There's a certain type of character that you can't help but come in contact with growing up and living in Brooklyn and Long Island. A certain mixture of moxie, heart, and a wise guy sense of humor.

The thrill of performing - that's something that hasn't changed for me. That simultaneous joy of creating something and sharing it with an audience - it's the same now as it was then, when it was just my cousins' birthday party.

What was frustrating about Armageddon was the time I spent not doing anything. It was a big special effects film, and I wasn't crazy about pretending I was in outer space. It feels ridiculous.

There's something about being naïve. Really interesting things come because you don't know what the rules are, what you can and can't do.

It wasn't until my senior year in high school that I started acting.

I could never have imagined the films I've done and the people I've worked with when I was starting out; I certainly did not have a career path.

I just like playing interesting, complex, complicated characters. I like films that also have an element of humor.

I'm not so in a rush to direct just anything because I'm lucky that I can make a living so far as an actor and not have to worry about that as a director. And so I can be a little more choosy in things I direct.

Casting is everything. Getting the person that you imagined is this character and then seeing what they bring to it.

Trees Lounge is based on my own life. Both my parents like the movie. My father, of course, thinks it's a masterpiece.